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No.3.
The First "Gap".
"Without form and void."
pp. 203 - 206
Whatever the ultimate purpose of creation may prove to be, it is certain that it will not
be attained without much sorrow and great sacrifice. "The Fuller" will be at work, and
between the opening announcement of creation in Gen. 1: 1 and the bringing in of the
New Heavens and New Earth (Rev. 21: 1; II Pet. 3: 13) and the "End" (I Cor. 15: 24)
roll the eons or the ages with their burden of sin and of redeeming love. When the new
heaven and earth was seen by John in the Apocalypse, he adds the words "and there was
no more sea". That is a most evident reference back to Gen. 1: 2, where darkness and
the deep take the place of order or kosmos.
"And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep" (Gen. 1: 2).
It is of importance that we remember that in the LXX, "the deep" is the same Greek
word that is translated "the bottomless pit" in the Apocalypse.
When we read in Genesis that man "became" a living soul we immediately gather that
he was not a living soul before he breathed the breath of life. When we read that Lot's
wife "became" a pillar of salt (Gen. 19: 26) we understand that this was consequent upon
her looking back. When Cain said "And it shall come to pass" (Gen. 4: 14) we
understand his fears concerning what would happen after others had heard of his deed.
So, when we read "the earth was without form and void" and realize that the same verb
that is here translated "was", is translated "became" or "come to pass" in these other
passages in Genesis, we realized that here in Gen. 1: 2 we are looking at the record of the
first great gap in the outworking of the Divine purpose, and must read:
"And the earth BECAME without form and void."
The translation "was" in Gen. 1: 2 however is perfectly good, for in our own usage
we often mean "became" when "was" is written. If writing on two occasions concerning
a friend we should say (1) "He was a man" and (2) "He was very ill", everyone would
understand that in the second case, this friend had "become" ill, and so "was" ill at the
time spoken of, but it would be impossible to think that anyone would understand by the
words "he was ill" that he had been created, or born in that state!
Darkness both in the O.T. and in N.T. is associated with death, judgment and evil, and
Paul's use of Gen. 1: 2, 3 in the words "God, Who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness" (II Cor. 4: 6) most surely indicates that in his estimation, the darkness of
Gen. 1: 2 is a fit symbol of the spiritual darkness of the unregenerate mind. Two words
however are found in Gen. 1: 2 which are so used in subsequent Scriptures as to compel
everyone that realizes what a great place "usage" has in interpretation, to acknowledge